Signwriter // Andrew Grundon

My ongoing series of portraits with the magazine Discover Britain, this time featuring signwriter Andrew Grundon. I spent the day at Andrew’s busy studio on the North West side of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. His studio space is bursting with antique signs and sculptures, it was a fascinating place to spend the day.

Hand made pub signage are often artworks in their own right, but the traditional craft of hand painted pub signs is in decline. Most pub signs are now digitally printed on vinyl and mounted in fibreglass. There is a unique heritage to pub signage: a record of history and the people who are part of it. Many pub signs have royal links: for instance, most ‘White Lion’ inns date from the time of Edward IV and the ‘White Boar’ was the emblem of Richard III. Probably the most common pub name, The Red Lion, originates from the reign of James I who ordered the heraldic red lion of Scotland be displayed on all buildings of importance, including pubs.

“Historically, and we’re going back to a time when the vast majority of the British public were illiterate, pub signs served a functional purpose rather than a decorative one,” Andrew says. “If you put a sign out front featuring a recognisable symbol, customers would know where to go for their beer”.